Maxis and EA unveil Darkspore

The world of Spore just got a little nastier

Wow%26hellip; EA just let loose a big ol%26rsquo; surprise early on in today'spress conference. Following the inevitable Sims 3 expansion, Maxis jolted the audience with a completely unexpected direction for its Spore franchise. Ladies and Gentlemen: Darkspore! And just look at that art...

Darkspore isn%26rsquo;t a direct extension of Spore, as it%26rsquo;s an action-RPG that will take place in its own sci-fi universe. Watching it in motion, it looks like a lovely little Diablo-esque loot hack with a crapload of custimization. Better still, Maxis claims Darkspore will take a couple cues from the Spore character creator(Which for most people, was the most fun thing about Spore, anyway.)

The press conference emphasized a focus on co-op and customization, asthe players toil to build an arsenal of %26ldquo;living weapons%26rdquo; by collecting DNA used to "level up" level up your multiple heroes with atributes. You'll be able to switch between the numerous characters you create on the fly in order to deal with enemies appropriately.

Hopefully, the more mature tone will loosen the restriction of character creation a bit, finally freeing us up to create the best and brightest dick and balls combinations our minds can conjure! Seriously, can you picture the phalluses we could create with this thing?!

The game is set for release on PC in February of 2011, and we%26rsquo;re already imaging a colossal gothic boner fit for a Tim Burton movie!